Dear Doctor:
How do we deal with the big issues that come up? Whether it’s an audit from a disgruntled third party payer, a relationship issue, financial pressure or practice building frustration, there’s an unrest that accompanies needing to achieve something that feels and seems huge by comparison to daily tasks and function.
This recalls the koan-like riddle, “How do you eat an elephant?” The obvious answer is “one bite at a time,” but do you really understand the wisdom hidden in this joke?
Tony Robbins taught me that we tend to overestimate what we can do in a year, but underestimate what we can do in a decade, and this reasoning provides a glimpse into the resolution of these larger challenges.
If you have financial pressure, for example, it would be lovely to win the lottery, or get an inheritance from a long lost relative, but chances are you’re going to have to go to Plan B -- and fortunately, there is a tactic that will indeed help you get out from under.
Get yourself into a resourceful state, and then identify the boundaries of the challenge, no matter how scary it may be – define the victory point so you know what to aim at. Next, decide on a reasonable time frame. Don’t be overly brave or overly timid – assign a time frame, whether it’s six months, a year, ten years or more. Choose a time long enough to make it believable, but short enough so it motivates you to take action. Now, break the long term goal into numerous smaller sub-goals, each with a time frame.
Now, concentrate on fulfilling the first time period you’ve decided upon – hit your first goal in the first time period, and don’t be too concerned at this time about what comes after that, just be determined to make this first objective. This will focus your attention, and also begin generating momentum, energy you can use to help you pick up speed as you get closer to the ultimate goal.
As you complete each time period, manage yourself by noting if you are hitting the goals in the selected time frame, or not – reshape the strategies so you are using your time and energy effectively to hit each milestone, moving relentlessly toward the goal.
Before you know it, you’ve moved the mountain! This works for all kinds of problems, so remember – the key to getting out of overwhelm is better chunking. Break your elephant into bite size pieces, and you’ll be astounded at what you can handle.
Dennis Perman DC, for The Masters Circle
PS The Fifth Annual SuperConference is coming to Vegas! This show will blow you away, from guest speaker Deepak Chopra to the cavalcade of chiropractic stars – to register, please call 800-451-4514, or go to www.themasterscircle.com for more information.
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